IMITATION AND MIMICRY. 317 



always the effect of exciting proportional admiration, 

 from the sympathy of the passive spectator with the 

 active agent, who feels his incapability of executing 

 the same feat in all its particulars. 



A story is told of Goldsmith, that having gone 

 with Johnson and Burke to see an exhibition of 

 puppets, his vanity was hurt at their praising the 

 agility displayed by the figures, which, with cha- 

 racteristic simplicity, he volunteered to equal, and 

 began accordingly, in good earnest, to skip over the 

 chairs in the room, without reflecting that it was not 

 exactly the agility that had pleased them, and drawn 

 forth their admiration, but the imitation of living 

 actions, producing in their minds a train of com- 

 parison between the puppets and the motions of the 

 animals imitated. 



The truth of these views appears to be proved by 

 the fact, that when the imitation is so perfect as to 

 amount to a belief of its identity with what is imi- 

 tated, no pleasure is produced by an observer, in 

 consequence of his mind not being excited to insti- 

 tute a train of comparisons. In the case of the 

 parrot, when the words are heard while the bird is 

 unseen, the articulation never so nearly imitates hu- 

 manity as to prevent the hearer from immediately 

 recognizing the voice to be that of a bird ; but were 

 the imitation perfect (supposing the bird still un- 

 seen), instead of a hearer going into a comparison 

 respecting the imitation, he would immediately infer 

 that the words " Pretty Poll" were uttered by some 

 person calling to a parrot, rather than suppose them 

 to be uttered by a bird. We recollect an instance of 

 a starling, which had been taught by an Ayrshire 

 hair-dresser to repeat the words " Get up, Sir," with 

 surprising correctness of articulation. The tone of 

 voice was husky and whispering, and the first 

 time we heard it from the bird, hanging in a dark 



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